Good to Great
View ImageLast night virtually at the last minute and just in time I discovered there would be a program on one of my local PBS stations based on the research and book that Jim Collins wrote entitled Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t. It’s a really great book and the program was really great too and it was hard to tell and information on-line regarding the program is sort of scant but it seemed to me like they might be planning on producing more episodes and have it as some kind of program series (wouldn’t that be great, maybe it just my hope springing eternal) .
Well anyway I went on line after watching the program to see if and when it would be rebroadcast and found out channel 13 WNET here in the NY area will be running it again this Monday evening at midnight followed by a Tom Peters program Re-Imagine Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age which is based on his book Re-Imagine which is another really great book too.
It looks like I’m going to have to either find the manual for my VCR DVD recorder and figure out how it works or shift my schedule around so I can stay up late this coming Monday.
If you’re not in the area served by channel 13 WNET I happen to think it would be worthwhile to go to the PBS website and check and see if and when the programs are being broadcast in your area.
Replies
Hey Jerry...Meant to write you. Read Rich Dad finally. Was about to buy it when low and behold...there it was on my book shelf. Musta bought it when I was drinking and never read it...lol.
Thats one great thing about stopping drinking...all the movies I thought I watched and books I bought and never read...Lotta catching up to do..lol. Anyway RDPD is a real good book. Was gonna ask you what you thought the follow up should be?
Thanks for the heads up on the PBS show. I'll put it into my DVR so I don't forget to watch it.
Nice weather today btw, huh??!!! Looks like we'll never get that Hunter ski day in. Thats OK. I'll take this weather any day of the week.
MAybe we should bike the trails at The Gunks around Mohonk as another thought.
People still don't believe in Global Warming huh? Probably cause Al made the movie about it...lol.
Be well
Namaste'
andy...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meaning of Namaste': I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor the place in you which is of Love, of Truth, of Light and of Peace, When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS:)http://http://www.woodstockanddeadseascrolls.net/files/track09c.mp3<
http://WWW.CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Ever read Doug Hall's, "Jump Start Your Brain"? I read them a buncha years ago abd really liked them. Good and fun read!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meaning of Namaste': I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor the place in you which is of Love, of Truth, of Light and of Peace, When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS:)http://http://www.woodstockanddeadseascrolls.net/files/track09c.mp3<
http://WWW.CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Rich Dad, Poor Dad is a real good book although every time I see it being brought up online there are always a bunch of people who will dismiss it in it's entirety because of all of the supposed controversy surrounding Kiyosaki. That's unfortunate in that there is so much good advice in that book.
As for Jump Start Your BrainView Image I never heard of it until you just mentioned it tonight (although I have now just ordered a copy) but I read Doug Hall's Jump Start Your Business Brain: Win More, Lose Less, and Make More MoneyView Image a few years ago because Tom Peters was recommending it and wrote the forward to it. And a good book it was too. I have to see how they compare.
I was just talking to a friend this evening who was skiing at Hunter today with her husband and kids and she said while there was man-made snow it was full of ruts and because there was so little of it the few people where out skiing we all crammed in to a couple acres of skiing real estate so it ended up being crowded too. Yeech. I'm a real hard pack guy. I like it real cold but c'est la vie we've got what we've got. I've been bicycling most of the week albeit road biking and rode 30 miles today.
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I'll send you an email tomorrow about The Gunks so I don't hijack your thread here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meaning of Namaste': I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor the place in you which is of Love, of Truth, of Light and of Peace, When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS:)http://http://www.woodstockanddeadseascrolls.net/files/track09c.mp3<
http://WWW.CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
83789.4 in reply to 83789.3
Rich Dad, Poor Dad is a real good book although every time I see it being brought up online there are always a bunch of people who will dismiss it in it's entirety because of all of the supposed controversy surrounding Kiyosaki. That's unfortunate in that there is so much good advice in that book.
I suspect most of the people denigrating the book have never read it. If they did, I don't understand how they could denigrate it.
The most important idea that Kyosaki preaches is to get financially educated. If you can't sit in a meeting with finacially educated people and have an intelligent discussion, using their everyday financial terms, in and educated manner-how do you expect to flourish?
That same idea can be extended to the trades. Would a framer want to work with an apprentice that refused to learn what the parts of a house is?
Could you summarize your findings about "Good to Great"?
blue"...if you just do what you think is best testing those limits... it's pretty easy to find exactly where the line is...."
From the best of TauntonU.
Blue, I'm not one of those "but Kiyosaki lied" guys, I got inspired by his books to seek out more/better information.
BUT, have you heard of this guy John T. Reed? I spent way to much time yesterday reading everything on his website. He has very good point-by-point contentions with Kiyosaki.
He also reviews most of the other real estate investor books. Sounds like a bit of a curmudgeon but with well-researched information.
Doesn't make me like the Rich Dad books any less, but made me better understand other folks' issues other than "he lied."
http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html
BUT, have you heard of this guy John T. Reed?
I read his site several years ago. Nothing in there persuaded me to become an apostle of Reeds.
Kyosaki is espousing a philosophical viewpoint that would not be particularly appealing to the masses, especially those 80%er's that follow the last leader that they've been exposed to. I don't mind. His philosphy brought my own situation to the forefront mf my consciencousness. The first book I read of his was The Cashflow Quadrant. He wrote the things I had been internalizing for decades.
My question to John would be: John, if Kyosaki's writings are so worthless, what suggestions, solutions to the "problem" do you have?
It's easy to be a critic, but what's his point?
blue"...if you just do what you think is best testing those limits... it's pretty easy to find exactly where the line is...."
From the best of TauntonU.
Reed's actually written several books and gives seminars himself.
I'm not saying I'm an apostle of his--one of his major criticisms is how Kiyosaki has built the whole Rich Dad empire on just a few basic financial tenets that anyone should know. The simple Rich Dad formula obviously worked for simple minds like mine and yours, at least enough to get us to start thinking differently.
Of course he's got an MBA from Harvard, so his view may be skewed.
He lists many point-by-point specifics of how K's advice is wrong or illegal, and his points made sense. I'm not going to repeat them here, there's pages worth.
Reed seems to really look down on anything not 100% truthful, hates the marketing tricks at guru seminars, really seems to be looking out for the little guy. His "point", I would say, is that honesty matters.
I'm not saying I'm an apostle of his--one of his major criticisms is how Kiyosaki has built the whole Rich Dad empire on just a few basic financial tenets that anyone should know. The simple Rich Dad formula obviously worked for simple minds like mine and yours, at least enough to get us to start thinking differently.
That statement in itself makes Reed's criticisms useless.
The facts are that the few basic tenets are obviously missing in the education system as we know it today. If it is necessary for someone to create an entire empire, to bring these tenets to the surface, then so be it...I give the man credit.
I suppose I could apply for an education to Harvard to learn those simple tenets, or maybe just pick up the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad and learn about it through a parable.
Reed's preoccupation with honesty isn't misdirected. Honesty is good. Now, I wonder how he'll find time to haunt all the authors and creative people that aren't "telling the entire truth". I'll be especially interested how he fixes the Magician's flaws. I'm really anxious to learn how Blaine decieves us.
blue"...if you just do what you think is best testing those limits... it's pretty easy to find exactly where the line is...."
From the best of TauntonU.
blue_eyed_devil - "Could you summarize your findings about "Good to Great"?"
While there not my finding per se I'll quote from a book summary I happen to have on hand:
Celebrity executives almost never lead good companies to greatness.
Good-to-great leaders embody a paradoxical mix of personal humility and
professional will.
You can’t achieve great things without great people.Many companies
create strategy, then try to rally people around it; good-to-great companies
start with great people and build great results from their efforts.
Simplicity rules.To go from good to great requires leaders to know
what their organizations are passionate about, what drives their economic
engine, and at what they can (and cannot) be the best in the world.
Enterprise-wide discipline is essential.When you combine a culture
of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you are more likely to achieve
great results.
Technology is an accelerator.Good-to-great companies do not jump
on technological bandwagons or chase after fads. They determine what technology makes the most sense for them, then pioneer its application.
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Thanks for that summary. It sounds like a good read. It also reminds me of much of what "First, Break all the Rules" is about.
blue"...if you just do what you think is best testing those limits... it's pretty easy to find exactly where the line is...."
From the best of TauntonU.
The thing I took home from "Good to Great" was that there are some people in your team who are not really up to snuff but you don't fire them because they really aren't all that bad. But that kind of toleration of mediocrity holds your whole organization back and prevents you from reaching your potential. After reading the book I cut my payroll from 12 to 7 and upped my productivity from 900K to 1.4 Mil while dramatically increasing profits and did not increase my hours per week. My people know we don't accept mediocrity and they take pride in being part of an excellent team. The improvement in the profit sharing checks hasn't hurt either. It is so dense that I will probably re-read it again soon and discover a whole new message in it for the way our company has changed since I read it the first time."Seven disfunctions of a team" was inspiring but more corporate than my world while still applicable. "Fish" is a nice short uplifting business parable, a little corney but a good shot in the arm. I give all my new hires "How to win friends and influence people" the classic. And my favorite business book of all time remains "The E-myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber
If you like "Good to Great" check out "The E-Myth Revisited" I hand that one out all the time, probably 10 to date.
ShelterNerd -
"If you like "Good to Great" check out "The E-Myth Revisited" I hand that one out all the time, probably 10 to date."
The E-Myth Revisited as well as The E-Myth Contractor: Why Most Contractors' Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About ItView Image are both really great books although they are very different in subject matter from what Good to Great is all about.
This subject of books actually came up as result of a topic over on JLC that a fellow there started called Books For Contractors, Recommended By Contractors and I threw in my short list.
I'll repost what I wrote over there and you can tell me what you think of the list. To the best of my recollection I don't think we have ever engaged in a conversation together online before but I really do enjoy reading all your posts and I think you think along many of the same lines as I do with regard to business and this business in particualar and I thought one of you most recent ones regarding A few random thoughts about acquiring the skills to get started in residential design-build was particualry excellent too.
Hmmnn, somehow I guessed I missed or over looked this topic until today. Not at all sure of just how that happened. Once upon a time I used to read around 50 books a year and I run a bookstore on one of my websites where I've compiled a bunch of books I think are worthwhile for contractors but I haven't updated it in a while now. Maybe this will get me to do so but anyway to post a short list here of essentials I would say:
Financial Management & Pricing:
I can't believe no one has mentioned these two yet but I put How Much Should I Charge?: Pricing Basics for Making Money Doing What You Love and Where Did The Money Go?- Easy Accounting Basics for the Business Owner Who Hates Numbers by Ellen Rohr at the top of my list. They're simple and entertaining reads that explain how to set a price for their services based on the billable hours a company will generate and explain financial language and the necessary financial thinking we all need to know in colloquial language that will make sense to anyone.
I've noticed a couple of people here have recommended Markup and Profit, a Contractors Guide but I'm not nuts over that book at all. I think as I've pointed out many times before it promotes and recommends a markup methodolgy that flawed (see The Potential Problem Using a Volume Based Markup) and it is really lacking in any real coverage of the accounting principles that you get in Ellen Rohr's Where Did The Money Go?
Running a Construction or Remodeling Business:
Running a Successful Construction Company (For Pros by Pros) by David Gerstel for the general overview of the contracting business in general. I think it's an essential and the best all around overview out there but like any overview or jack-of-all-trades it doesn't get into the depth I would like it too.
I'll also put The Company We Keep: Reinventing Small Business for People, Community, and Place by John Abrams of The South Mountain Company in here too but it's not so much about how to run a construction company per se but about some of the philosophy and thinking behind building a "sustainable" business and socially responsible company.
Somewhere in here I guess I would also have to put How To Make Your Business Run Without You by Susan M. Carter, Run Your Business So It Doesn't Run You by Linda Leigh Francis, The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It and of course The E-Myth Contractor: Why Most Contractors' Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It both by Michael E. Gerber which all cover the concept and idea that your company needs to be able to intrinsically run itself as a business and not just because you are driving it to create yourself a job. Sadly a lot of contractor business owners just never seem to get that.
Estimating & Pricing:
Defensive Estimating: Protecting Your Profits by William Asdal, CGR. It's not about how to estimate a kitchen, a deck or some other project in the literal sense in terms of what items to include and look for but about how to think about and approach estimating which is the thing I think all the other books on construction estimating that I've read seem to lack.
As to what to actually look for in estimating particular projects and trades I think Estimating Building Costs by Wayne J. DelPico and Estimating for the General Contractor by Paul J. Cook are good for that.
Marketing/Sales:
Top of my list I would put anything by Seth Godin or Harry Beckwith but All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World and Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing are good places to start.
It may be one of the rare times that I will agree with him but I'll also concur with Sonny that The Experience Economy: Work Is Theater & Every Business a Stage by B. Joseph Pine is an essential.
Personal Time Management:
As for personal time management I agree wholeheartedly with dmwyatt's recommendation of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen or anything else by him for that matter. But I would also add Stephen Covey's First Things First: To Live, to Love, to Learn, to Leave a Legacy
Business Time/Project Management:
As for organization planning and time management with respect to projects I highly recommend Eliyahu M. Goldratt's The Goal and Critical Chain which are both business books written in the form of novels so they are easy entertaining reads which are introduction to Theory of Constraints and Critical Chain Project Management respectively.
As for help in understanding Lean Thinking I think both of James Womack's books Lean Thinking : Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation and Lean Solutions: How Companies and Customers Can Create Value and Wealth Together are excellent. And put The Toyota Way and The Toyota Way Fieldbook for their take on Lean Thinking. The Toyota Way books are also great for understanding how important building the correct "company culture " is too.
A book specifically written with our industry in mind that I find really worthwhile is Ten Steps to Increase Jobsite Productivity by James Adrian and as for the nuts, bolts, and techniques behind building a computerized construction schedule I think Project Scheduling and Management for Construction by David R. Pierce, Jr. is excellent.
People Skills:
A while back now I got into reading the books by Daniel Goleman but in particular I found and continue to find that his book Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence is of great value in understanding and working with people. I have since picked up the audio version of the book and listen to it a couple of times a year on my iPod while working or in the car on the longer drives. Another real good one is First Among Equals: How to Manage a Group of Professionals.
I also like Jud Aley's recommendations of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (which was recently recommended to me by Nei Gaskkin "CAG" over on breaktime is outstanding and I re-reading it again right now in audio book form) and Who Moved My Cheese which is a really good one too.
Trade Skills:
Generally speaking I think there are tons of good books out there in the trade skill areas compared to the books on business that we all need to read more of so I'll leave that to other here with perhaps the exception of a couple of books on stairs that I generally recommend. There's George R. Di Cristina's A Simplified Guide to Custom Stairbuilding and Tangent Handrailing and Stairscaping: A Guide to Buying, Remodeling, and Decorating Interior and Exterior Staircases which is a good contemporary overview of stair railings and the stair craft in general.
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I then went on the next morning to add:
In thinking over the list I posted last evening it occurred to me this morning that there was a set or series of books that while I have found them to be incredibly valuable I deliberately didn't mention because I thought maybe the crowd here might find them just a little bit too esoteric. But then I recalled that Paul Eldrenkamp who is the author of several articles here on JLC (try the search feature to find them) is a fan of them too. I learned of this reading about it in an Inc Magazine blurb a few years back that I've copied below.
Well Paul is not the only one who's read The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization and The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization cover to cover. I have too,... and I notated them, and also read a third book in the series The Dance of Change: The Challenges to Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations and have all three book in audio book form and listen to them maybe a couple of times a year.
While I think Personal Mastery, just one of the five disciplines explored in the book, was really helpful what I appreciated the most and found the most valuable was the fifth discipline Systems Thinking which was about understanding and seeing systems in and all around us in business and learning to look at business in a holistic way, rather than with an isolating reductionist viewpoint.
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Jerrald
Thanks for the list and the comment about my random thoughts post. I've read a lot of business books in my attempt to fine tune my systems over here but see several on that list that I have missed. So my homework is cut out for me. Have you read "The Tipping Point" yet, not really a business book but a great read and pertinant to the current Green Building push.All the bestMichael
Bummer, looks like it's not broadcasting up here in Maine. I love that book. Maybe it will be available on Netflix?